Champion Concept: The Abyssal Avatar

Hi there, I am Some Bird, a passionate Azir player on EUW. My maximum rank so far is Gold III so yes I guess I am a pleb. Plebness aside, I would like to share a champion concept with you that I've been thinking about for a while. This is quite a long post, so feel free to skip the parts that you are less interested in, I also put in some tl;dr's to summarize the most important parts. Let's dive in.

Goals

In the first place this concept is a bit of a thought experiment of mine which started a while back when I read the Aurelion Sol background story. In his background story everyone's favorite star dragon closes a void portal on Mount Targon and senses an ominous presence from the other side of the portal. This intrigued me a lot and so I started wondering what this void presence could be and what it might look like if it were a champion in League of Legends.

I've also seen how Riot Games sometimes partially works ideas that are shared on its forums into an actual skin or champion and thought this might be a nice way of handing the Champion Development Team some ideas. Note that this post is mostly me sketching a concept, and therefore I do not go into specific stats or damage ratios as those require a lot of testing and fine tuning to perfect (and even then they need regular updates). I also don't really go into detail on the visuals or the lore for similar reasons.

Theme

As I said before, the general idea for this concept came from the "hungry and indomitable [will]" Aurelion Sol felt at the other side of a void rift. I figured such an unfathomable, Lovecraftian entity inhabiting the void might be a cool addition to the League of Legends champions roster and so I started thinking about how something like that would translate into a champion and what it's kit might look like. The idea I ended up with was that of the champion being a projection of the Void itself, a manifestation of it's will to devour all other planes, an Avatar of the Abyss itself.

Being a fundamental part of the Void itself, I figured my Abyssal Avatar should not be allowed to simply tap into the mana other Runeterrans use to perform their magics, instead relying on it's connection to the Void or sapping the life force out of living creatures. The concept of the Void itself being an eldritch being that wants to devour all of existence and a Dark Messiah that has come to herald the inevitable end also ties in nicely with the new Swain lore. As it seems to imply he is preparing the Runeterra for some great horrible event which can only be stopped if all it's peoples are united to fight it. Obviously, this Void Avatar could also have some interesting interactions with Void creatures and people touched by the Void.

And so the Abyssal Avatar was born, a champion that is a representation of the very essence of the void, trying to collapse the world it's dark realm, however unable to use mana, instead channeling the Void itself and the life essence it drains from living beings.

Passive

The Abyssal Avatar's uses Power as a resource, it has a base amount of maximum Power which scales with levels. Any increase in maximum mana he gains from items or runes is converted into maximum Power with diminishing return the more maximum Power he has. The Abyssal Avatar does not regenerate Power passively, only regaining Power while is standing on a Null Zone (W) or through Essence Tether (E). Any effects that would restore mana grant him a small shield based on the amount of mana granted instead.

The Abyssal Avatar also gains some Ability Power based on the amount of Power he currently has (current, not maximum).

Notes: I thought it would be better to use some intermediary resource and not just mana, as by my knowledge mana spent has never been directly tied to damage as some of his abilities do, thus it might need diminishing returns to keep it balanced. Also it might improve clarity both in programming and in game

tl;dr Mana is replaced with Power. Does not regenerate Power except through his kit and the fuller his Powerbar the more damage he does.

Q: Dark Coalescence/Entropy Barrage

While pressing Q, the Abyssal Avatar quickly drains Power up to a maximum of [% of his maximum Power]. It then gains the ability to cast Entropy barrage 3 to 5 times based on the amount of Power spent. Entropy barrage fires a blast of dark energy in a straight line in target direction over a decently long range, each blast deals ( ( [some base amount] + [small AP ratio] )*[Power spent]) / [number of blasts] magic damage to the first target hit.

Notes: So the more Power it has, the more it can spend on Dark Coalescence, the trade-off is that it needs to charge longer for more damage and thus gives its opponents more time to react. It might be best to lock his model into one direction and allow him to only fire blasts in that general direction, making it easier for opponents to get out of the danger zone. Entropy Barrage has no cost as it is all paid up front while casting Dark Coalescence

tl;dr Charges then can shoot a number of skillshots in front of him, number of projectiles he can fire and damage scales with Power spent while charging.

W: Singularity

The Abyssal Avatar tears the fabric separating the void and Runeterra, briefly slowing enemies in an area, a Singularity is created in the middle of the area for a limited duration. The Singularities act upon blasts fired by Entropy Barrage (Q) in a gravity-esque way, curving their trajectories, drawing them towards itself and even allowing them to orbit it if shot at the right angle. When a blast hits the singularity, it resonates, dealing damage in an area around it and briefly slowing enemies again.

Singularities take damage from Entropy Barrage (Q) and Essence Tether (E), it reaches 0 hitpoints, it implodes, dealing damage and briefly stunning enemies in the area around it and creating a Null Zone, the Singularity remains for its remaining duration but cannot implode again. The Abyssal Avatar has increased movement speed while in Null Zones and rapidly regenerates Power, enemies take increased damage from its abilities in Null Zones. Null Zones remain for a limited duration separate from the Singularity that created it.

Notes: This is the only form of CC in his basic abilities and it is quite unreliable especially at close range, making distance his best friend. The effect Singularities have on his Entropy Barrage give the Abyssal Avatar a lot of interesting options and a pretty high skill cap, allowing for last minute trajectory adjustments by casting Singularity nearby an Entropy Blast in mid flight. Singularities and the Null Zones they create allow for some nice zone control, but also limit the Abyssal Avatar to certain zones himself

tl;dr Slow enemies in an area and create an orb that curves blasts fired by Entropy Barrage (Q). If these blasts hit the orb, enemies around it take damage and are slowed. If the Abyssal Avatar deals enough damage to the orb with his Q and/or his E, it implodes, dealing damage to enemies around it, stunning them and creating a Null Zone. While inside of a Null Zone the Abyssal Avatar rapidly regenerates Power and gains movement speeds, enemies inside of these zones take increased damage from the Abyssal Avatar's abilities.

E: Essence Tether

The Abyssal Avatar fires a small and fast projectile, which creates a Tether between it and the first enemy or Singularity hit. While the Tether lasts, the Dark Avatar regains Power at a decent pace, reduced if Tethering a minion or monster, and deals damage to the Singularity or enemy it is tethered to. If the Tether exceeds a certain range or the Abyssal Avatar is incapacitated during the Tether, the Tether breaks. Essence Tether deals increased damage to Singularities and restores extra Power if it kills an enemy.

Notes: This ability let's the Abyssal Avatar regenerate some Power and let's him create Null Zones without having to cast Entropy Barrage, this does require two abilities, one of which is his only basic ability with CC, so it leaves him vulnerable

tl;dr Fire a small, fast skillshot, create a link between you and the first enemy hit, this bond damages that enemy over time and restore Power, if the Abyssal Avatar is hit with hard CC or the distance between it and the enemy is too great, the effect ends. The Abyssal Avatar can also use this ability on Singularities.

R: Plane Rend

The Abyssal Avatar collapses the area around target Null Zone into the void. A Singularity is created at the center of the Null Zone, this Singularity cannot implode. Enemies who leave or enter the zone take damage and are slowed. The bonuses from the targeted Null Zone are increased while Plane Rend is active. The longer this ability is active, the more Power per second it takes to keep it up, increasing faster as time goes by. The effect ends when the Abyssal Avatar is out of Power, cancels the effect by pressing R or after a (pretty generous) maximum time limit is reached.

Notes: This ability enforces the main concepts of the Abyssal Avatar's kit: do you want to be inside of your Null Zones yourself to regenerate Power and have extra movementspeed or do you want your enemies to be inside of them so you can smack them with Entropy Barrage? Plane Rend can be kept up longer based on the amount of Power the Abyssal Avatar has and being in the Rend can keep it up even longer, as this way you regenerate Power while it is active. I think the increase to the damage bonus on Null Zone should be greater than the increase to the movementspeed and Power regen, as the Power regen from being inside of the Rend already has the benefit of making Plane Rend last longer. Maybe it is even worth considering to turn up the damage even more if the Abyssal Avatar is not inside of the zone, making it a trade-off between damage and Power sustain.

tl;dr Increase the size of a Null Zone and create a Singularity in the center, if enemies enter or leave the zone, they take damage and are slowed. Bonuses from Null Zone are increased while it is under this effect. This effect drains increasing amounts of Power and ends when out of Power, after a maximum amount time or when canceled.

Conclusion

The Abyssal Avatar best fits the profile of an Artillery Mage, while also dipping into Control Mage territory with his W and his R, both are however reasonably telegraphed (W has to implode first, R can only be cast on an imploded W). His versatility also gets handicapped by his lack of natural resource regeneration, which forces him to use his abilities to regenerate his much needed Power. His E has the downside of not granting him a lot of Power if used on minions and being risky to use on champions, using his W in conjunction with his E grants him a more permanent solution, but leaves him with 2 abilities on cooldown, then again I do think the option of creating a Null Zone under tower still leaves him with enough options to keep him from being a "Power starved or broken" balance nightmare.

tl;dr His kit definitely has the risk of being overloaded, but I do believe that with his resource handicap and his natural weakness to champions that can get close and personal leaves enough handles for balancing.

Do feel free to comment any suggestions, advice or corrections you might have down below.